The US Department of State (DoS) has set out intentions to reduce the costs associated with waiving US citizenship.
In legal documents related the lawsuit against the department by the Association of Accidental Americans (AAA), seen by International Adviser, the DoS notified the court on 6 January 2023 that it was going to reduce the renunciation fee to $450, mere days before the scheduled in-person hearing on 9 January.
The association lost its legal challenge in the Washington federal court in October 2022, but appealed the decision shortly after.
Currently, US citizens looking to waive their citizenship need to pay $2,350 (£1,942, €2,207) to do so.
The AAA lawsuit alleges that expatriation and citizenship renunciation are fundamental rights under the US constitution. The AAA claims that the shutting down of renunciation services from embassies and consulates during the pandemic was unlawful.
The DoS has also requested the court to postpone the hearing to give the government the time to go through the necessary regulatory process for the application of the reduced fee.
Fabien Lehagre, founder and president of the AAA, said: “The State Department’s statement is extremely encouraging and tacitly acknowledges that this legal challenge has and will accomplish what it set out to do.
“By lowering the fee to $450, the US government is showing that the right of voluntary expatriation is not to be trifled with and deserves the utmost protection. Time will tell how the government will formulate and develop the new fee and my organisation intends to continue to campaign against any fee or restriction on this sacred right of renunciation.”
The $450 fee was first introduced in 2010 by president Barack Obama. Before 2010, the US did not charge a fee for processing renunciation requests.
